No Trace
by MrMsMingus
Summary: When two agencies send their best operatives after the same target, what will happen when it's complicated, urgent and classified? - Collaborative Effort with Countryole
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - This Isn't Control  
**_(__Dark Living Room area of a run-down hostel in Kiev Ukraine.)_

"Neshema, you cannot coddle the asset..."

"So you would rather I tie him to the chair and electrocute the man?"

"Well if it works, then yes."

Annie rolled her eyes and reached for a nearby lamp ripping the cord from the lamp-base and exposing the wire. An intense wave of deja vu swept over her as she did so. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Eyal's jaw loosen and drop. Gritting her teeth she ignored his genuinely shocked reaction to her sudden aggressiveness and tossed him some rope before testing the wires. At the first sound of the electricity jumping between the exposed metal in her hands, the man tied to the chair suddenly became an ocean of information.

An hour later George and Leah Yakowitz emerged from the run-down hostel and proceeded to their extraction point. They held hands and chatted gaily to keep up their cover as a married couple, but Eyal could see Annie withdrawing into herself, which she had done periodically over the past week they had spent in the field together. He knew her thoughts were gone again. Back to a distant place he knew nothing of.

"Annie." He harshly whispered under his breath. Her eyes shot up to meet his, "George?" She said in a corrective tone featuring a raised eyebrow and a tightening of her grip on his hand.

Eyal grunted and dragged her into a nearby alley, "Annie, who was that back there? Not that I am complaining about the outcome, but last time I checked, you were the moral compass in this relationship. I mean, it is certainly not me."

Annie bit the inside of her cheek and glared at him through her stone cold eyes, "I don't wanna go there right now. We have a train to catch." She whipped her blonde hair around and started to leave the protection of the alleyway only to be jerked back and firmly pressed against the brick wall by her mossad counterpart.

His fingers wrapped around her biceps as he held her with extended arms and studied her harsh features, "That was not the first time you have done that either...is it...Jessica?"

She flinched under his grip at the name and spoke through clenched teeth, "Let it be."

"No, I have 'let it be' for the past week, what is going on with you?"

"Nothing" she muttered through gritted teeth.

"Nothing? Look, I don't know what happened to you while you were chasing Henry, but you have to let someone in." Her eyes met his and the fierce anger was replaced by a deep shame that made his heart ache, "Neshema, let me in."

Annies cell phone rang as he finished his statement, eliciting a string of frustrated Hebrew curses to flow out of Eyal's mouth, and a sigh of relief to escape from Annies lips when he released his grip on her allowing her to begin pacing the width of the alley.

"Hello."

_"Everything okay over there?"_

"Yes we are on our way to the train station."

_"No, a little bird told me you're in an alley."_

"Well we are on our way now." She reached for Eyal's hand and pulled him alongside her.

Eyal lamely protested before falling in step beside her and offering her his arm.

_"I need you to stay in Ukraine and get rid of Eyal."_ The stress in Auggie's voice made Annie squint and listen closer.

"Everything okay?"

She heard him take a heavy breath on the other end and knew the answer to her question, _"Just call me back when you are alone. Joan wants you on this."_

"Okay."

_"And Annie, don't read Eyal in."_

"Shouldn't be a problem since I have no idea whats going on." Sarcasm dripped off of every word she spoke.

_"Just call me when you get out him of Ukraine."_ Before she could say anything else, Auggie ended the call.

Annie stuffed her phone in her pocket and walked in silence as they approached the train station. Eyal surveyed her with his eyes but didn't question what was going on. At the entrance Annie stopped and pulled Eyal around to face him.

"I have to stay." She said quietly as she wove her fingers with his.

His dark eyes looked down into hers, "Do you need me to stay with you?"

Annie shook her head and looked at the ground between their feet, "No…you can't." She responded as she lifted her eyes to meet his once again.

"So not 'no, you don't want me here', just..."

Annie cut him off, "George..." She released his hands and stood on her toes cupping his face as she did. She softly kissed his lips before once again meeting his eyes, "I will be fine, but you need to go."

He nodded and briefly hugged her, "I will be nearby if you need me Neshema." Pulling away he winked and disappeared into the crowd to catch the 4 o'clock train to Warsaw.

Annie took a deep breath and let her head fall back limply as she looked at the grey Kiev sky. The phone in her pocket brought her out of her reverie as it vibrated. Annie sighed and pulled it to her ear, "Yeah?"

* * *

Riley peered at him as he went inside himself, "Gabriel, what did you find?"

She watched as he tilted his head to the side and squinted his eyes, "Someone has hacked the CCTV servers and is running a facial recognition software on it." He emerged from his daze and made actual eye contact with his brunette partner, "It's genius."

Riley crossed her arms and glared at him lamely, "Great, fantastic, but we still…"

Gabriele ignored her and brought his finger to his ear to engage the com system, "Target is in a hostel about 3 miles east of the train station."

Riley scoffed and listened as Lillian responded from headquarters back at Cyber Command, _"Okay, you two go in…"_

"Now hold your horses Lillian, he was escorted in there about three hours ago."

Riley perked up, "Escorted? By who?"

"See, that's where things get complicated, his buddies are in the passport system under one identity, but they also have separate, classified files on our intelligence servers…."

_"Gabriel, just break the encryption and get eyes on their files."_ Lillian barked over their earpieces.

Gabriel smirked and spoke in a sarcastic tone, "Well since I have your permission…" he responded in his typical cocky tone, "...okay I have one Eyal Levin, Mossad and one Annie Walker, CIA. Which makes sense, this hack originated in Virginia, so I'm guessing we are about to walk into a CIA investigation. Gotta love that inter-agency cooperation." He rolled his eyes and met Rileys as they exchanged annoyed glares.

Lillian let out a heavy sigh, _"Hold your positions for now, I'm gonna get in touch with-"_

"Hang on Lillian, geez. The spooks have just left the building."

_"And Tvardosky?"_

"Still inside."

_"Okay, you two go see what kind of shape he is in, I'm gonna contact Langley..."_

"Oh, and Lillian, the CIA hacker, pretty sure they know I'm in their system."

_"How?"_

Nelson, Cyber Com's in house genius and computer extraordinaire, jumped in over the com, _"Uh, the, uh CIA hacker is re-writing the encryption code as we speak He's quick, noticed the wave Gabriel made as he entered the system."_

Gabriele confirmed Nelson's response and Lillian let out a frustrated groan, _"Perfect...I'm gonna go to langley and play nice with the DCS so we can keep this under wraps. You two just find Tvardosky without getting caught."_

Gabriel smirked at Riley as the two moved toward their black Dacia, "Shouldn't be a problem."


	2. Chapter 2

_He nodded and briefly hugged her, "I will be nearby if you need me Neshema." Pulling away he winked and disappeared into the crowd to catch the 4 o'clock train to Warsaw. _

_Annie took a deep breath and let her head fall back limply as she looked at the grey Kiev sky. The phone in her pocket brought her out of her reverie as it vibrated. Annie sighed and pulled it to her ear, "Yeah?"_

* * *

"Yeah?"

"_How did you leave Tvardosky?"_ Joan's firm tone causing Annie to unconsciously straighten her posture.

"What do you mean how? We got the intel, un-tied him…."

"_Your asset was tied up?"_

"It's complicated."

Joan sighed deeply planting a fist on her hip and rubbing the arch of her nose, "_Okay, where was he going after you and Eyal left?"_

"Home I guess."

"_Well, according to Auggie, he hasn't left the hostel and your new targets are headed his way."_

"My new target-Joan, what is going on?" She asked as she turned back and quickly strode down the street toward the hostel.

Auggies voice broke into the conversation and Annie realized for the first time she was on the speakerphone, "_Someone hacked into my hummingbird system right before you and Eyal left for the train station. They hacked it remotely."_

"I thought that wasn't possible?"

"_Well, it shouldn't be. Annie whatever technology this hacker is using it is far beyond anything I've seen."_ he paused for dramatic effect and Annie could picture the cheeky grin on his face and the scowl on Joans. "_All jokes aside though, the hacker also accessed you and Eyal's files, this thing is like a walking supercomputer and currently it is headed toward where you left your asset."_

"Why?"

Joan cut off Auggie's response, "_We don't know and that is why we need you to very discreetly go back and see who is looking for Tvardosky, and if you can get eyes on the device they are using, I need you to find a way to bring evidence of it back here."_

"Who is carrying the device? What am I up against? For that matter, what am I looking for?"

Auggie started to speak when Annie heard Joan's assistant cut him off over the phone, "_Joan, Lillian Strand just cleared security and is headed toward your office. She said it is urgent and is demanding a meeting with you." _

Joan took a deep breath and processed the information, "_Okay."_ she exhaled as she spoke and Annie could hear her heels begin clicking against the floor, "_I will be there in 5. Auggie, read Annie in on what we know and I want updates every fifteen minutes until I can make it back down here." _Her voice grew fainter as she walked out of the room.

There was a moment of tense silence as Auggie waited for the room to be cleared out again. Upon hearing his sliding door latch he took a deep breath and completed the brief, "_I wish I could tell you what you are looking for, but I have no idea what it looks like, not that that means much coming from me. Remember the drive we got from red rover?"_

"Yeah, silver, looked somewhat like a lipstick tube."

"_Yeah that. If I were to guess, it's something like that they can easily plug into a mobile terminal and run the program. As for who...you are gonna encounter two targets. A female, Riley O'Neal, former special services, I'm sending her photo to your phone. She has been off the grid for nearly a year, working undercover at US CYBERCOM." _His voice slowed as he processed the information his fingers were sending to his brain, "_Hmm."_

Annie was breathing heavily as her quick footsteps carried her across the city, "Hmmm what Auggie?"

"_Lillian Strand is her boss."_

"The woman demanding to see Joan?"

"_Good old inter-agency cooperation."_

"Things I haven't missed."

There was an awkward silence after her reference to her time in the dark as they each let their minds wander back in time. Annie shook her head and determined to move on.

"Auggie, you said there were two targets?"

"_Yea, uh, the second is a john doe, meaning I have nothing on him. At all. The guy is a ghost Annie."_

She smirked as the building came back into view, "Good thing I have experience with ghosts."

* * *

When Gabriele opened the door to the room, Riley at his back in the hostel hallway, dilapidated wallpaper adding to the historic, rundown feel, his instincts immediately warned him that something was wrong. The ex-special forces agent eyed the ominously half-open door to the room, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end.

"Gabriele?" His name was a question of concern when Riley said it, but Gabriele shook his head, and gestured with his hand toward the threshold. Together they pushed the door open, old hinges giving them away with their whine of protest. Gabriele clenched his teeth, straining to hear, Riley poised beside him.

He paused, focusing on the digital images flashing past his eyes, images no one else could see - courtesy of the super computer chip inside his head. It was the satellite image of their current location, and the _three_ heat signatures in the hostel room.

"Got him." Gabriele muttered, moving forward toward the living area, Riley hot on his heels, both with weapons drawn.

He wasn't expecting to be thrown sideways when, out of no where, wanted computer hacker and Russian anarchist, Ivan Tvardosky, came barreling around the corner.

"Gabriele!" Riley's shout of terror was accompanied by her ever uncanny ability to react quickly in dire situations. Gabriel's gun skidded across the wood floor as he grappled with the scrambling Tvardosky, who was hell bent on escape, wrestling to climb over the top of Gabriele and flee. However, even as he escaped Gabriele's immediate grasp to crawl toward the door, the sound of a gun being cocked and the pair of combat boots staring at him made Tvardosky freeze in place.

"If I were you, I wouldn't move." Riley smirked, the barrel of her SIG centered with the Russian's forehead.

Gabriele stood, wiping his hand across his mouth, irritated at the sight of blood across his knuckles. "He busted my lip." He said incredulously, eyeing the man sprawled on the floor as if her were contemplating stomping him into oblivion. Riley, unimpressed by Gabriele's childish animosity, rolled her eyes in response.

"Please, let me go!" Tvardosky wailed, having no resolve left to feign bravery. "I've already told too much, I'll be killed, worse than killed, if someone finds out - please!"

"Told who what?" Gabriele picked his gun up from off the ground, squatting down beside the prostrate Tvardosky. Meanwhile, a digital copy of CYBERCOMs detailed dossier on the man scrolled across the open air in front of him. "I know all about you Ivan, your involvement in the latest cyber attacks on Ukraine are no secret. So, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Tell me who you're working for, and we'll be able to make your life comfortable. Don't tell me, and…" He glanced up at Riley, grinning, and then back to Ivan. "Well, you get the picture."

"Or, you could tell _me_ who _you're_ working for, and why you're threatening _my_ asset."

The sudden apparition of a fourth voice caught Gabriele completely off guard.

His eyes snapped back up to Riley, and to the blonde haired woman who now stood behind her, a gun pointed at the back of his partner's head.


	3. Chapter 3

"_Or, you could tell me who you're working for, and why you're threatening my asset."_

_The sudden apparition of a fourth voice caught Gabriele completely off guard. _

_His eyes snapped back up to Riley, and to the blonde haired woman who now stood behind her, a gun pointed at the back of his partner's head._

* * *

"Damn" Gabriele cursed under his breath as he took in the situation. The russian beside him flinched earning the heel of Gabriels boot making contact with his back as the soldier positioned himself to face the current source of conflict.

He saw Rileys eyes wide with shock, but not fear. No, she either really trusted him or already had a plan in her head. Quickly looking over the blondes personnel file as it flew across his field of view, Gabriel removed his foot from Tvardosky but not before shooting him a glare that keep him still on the floor. He began to slowly make his way toward his captive partner.

"Stop right there or….."

"Or what?" Gabriele spat out the words and took another step, "You'll kill my partner like you killed Henry Wilcox?" He saw the girls face go white and went on, "That's right _Annie Walker_, I know what you are capable of so lets talk this out. See I want my partner to walk out of here with her brain matter in place and you seem to want this Russian to get out of here un-harmed."

Annie lifted her chin and held the gun firmer to Rileys head. "Fine, you want to talk this out? What do you want with my asset?"

"Asset? This load of shit is a CIA asset?"

Annie nodded affirmatively and Gabriel groaned, "Well this just gets better and better. He has information we need on the Crimea cellular network hack. There, now will you let my partner go."

She just shook her head and took a quick breath, "No, I still need to know how the hell you got into the CIA's servers remotely and accessed my file?" She watched the imposing man exchange glances with Riley and waited impatiently for a response.

Gabriele shrugged evasively and glanced at the Russian on the floor, "That's classified."

"Then things might get a little messy." Annie kicked Rileys knees making them buckle and forcing her kneecaps to slam onto the floor, a fierce look on her face that made Gabriels heart race.

* * *

Joan opened her door to find Lillian Strand seated in the lounge chair across from her desk. The two had met on numerous occasions throughout their careers and for the most part, Joan liked the CYBERCOM director. Today, however, had left her feeling anything but friendly. Closing the door she took a deep breath and put on her politicking face, "Lillian..."

The redhead didn't turn, didn't stand, didn't flinch as she responded to the greeting, "Joan."

The blonde took quick steps across the room and settled behind her desk, clasping her hands together and resting them on the flat surface waiting for an explanation. The two women exchanged inquisitive glares before Lillian broke the silence, "Ivan Tvardosky, you familiar with the name?"

She shifted slightly and narrowed her eyes, "I am assuming you are here because you know I am. So, lets just stop this game right now. Everything on the table, what do you want with my agents asset?" Joan asked sitting back in her chair.

"Tvardosky is a CIA asset?" Joan nodded in affirmation and Lillian let out a sigh and rubbed her forehead, "Well that complicates things."

The blonde stiffened her neck and set her jaw, "Complicates what? What is CYBERCOMs interest in him?"

Lillian stood and walked around to stand behind the chair leaning on the back of it, "When Russia disrupted cell service in the Crimea region, we opened an investigation into the technology behind it. It led us to Tvardosky. I sent two of our best agents to track him down and bring him back. We need that hack."

Joan nodded and sat up straight, "Tvardosky, however brilliant he may be, did not write that code, but he knows who did. He was on our radar for years, one of our operatives turned him and he has been feeding us information about the group he runs with and yes, that group is responsible for the hack and yes, we have the name of the groups leaders. That is why my agent was in the country. Tvardosky called two days ago saying he had intel on the attack and on the hackers current location so we sent our agent over there."

"What was mossads involvement?"

Joan leaned forward and spoke with raised brows, "Mossad is not..."

Lillian cut her off abruptly, "Eyal Levin, Annie Walker those names ring a bell?"

Pursing her lips, Joan let out a long slow breath and used every ounce of her self-control to soften her angry glare, "Eyal and Annie have worked together on numerous missions and Eyal helped her turn Ivan, as a result we share the asset with Mossad." Joan stood and planted her hands on the desk, "Now, what I want to know is how the hell you know that and how your agents are using my tech ops program wirelessly in a foreign country."

Lillian planted her hands on her hips and took a few pacing steps across the room. Joan watched the woman pace and could see her trying to decide how to handle Joan. Finally the redhead stood directly across from the blonde DCS and spoke in a hushed tone, "What do you know about Clockwork?"

Joan stood to her full height and crossed her arms over her chest, "All I have heard related to clockwork are rumors and conjecture."

"Clockwork is functional Joan."

Joan had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep her jaw from dropping, "It is?"

The redhead nodded and turned to face Joan full-on, "Gabriele Vaughn, former military is the first subject. The chip in his brain allows him to access the information grid, and to cyber render."

"Cyber render?"

"He can recreate a scene in his mind and basically walk through it. He found your tech ops program running on the CCTV feed today when he and Riley O'Neil, the person assigned to protect him, needed a location on Tvardosky. They have orders to bring him back to DC."

"Well, my agent has orders to keep her assets cover intact and to gather intel on how your clockwork project hacked our system. You're people are threatening her assets cover. And knowing her, when she gets the drop on your two agents with her asset, things won't be pretty."

"Hate to break this to you Joan, but she won't get the drop on Gabriele, you don't know what he is capable of."

Joan smirked, "Nor do you know what Annie is capable of. Can you get in touch with your people?"

"Yes we have a real-time com system."

Joan started to walk toward the door of her office expecting Lillian to follow, "Can you access it from here?"

"Yes." She responded in a suspicious tone as she followed Joan out the room.

"Good, we are gonna run this from the DPD where the head of our tech ops is running Annie's mission."

* * *

"_Gabriel"_

Lillians urgent voice coming over his earpiece pulled part of his processing abilities away from the blonde whom he held a silent, intense eye contact with. Their eyes daring one another to move an inch.

Ignoring the literal voice in his head, Gabriel moved to approach the jumpy CIA operative when Lillians voice once again called his name. One glance at Riley told him she heard it as well. Her eyes narrowing gave Gabriel the silent order to respond. His lips twisted into a bitter line as he slowly moved his hand to engage the device in his ear, "Now is not the time Lillian."

Annie was watching the obviously annoyed man speak to whoever was on the other end of his com system when it hit her, Lillian...that is his boss who had arrived at Langley to see Joan. Putting the pieces together she forced the brunette's head to one side and plucked her earpiece from her ear. Gabriel opened his mouth to protest but failed to formulate words before Annie put the device in her ear and spoke.

"Lillian Strand, this is Annie Walker, CIA, but I assume you already know that. Lillian, I am in a bit of a standoff right now with one of your agents…." Gabriel looked at her in half shock, half awe.

"_Oh you are?" The unfamilar voice asked. _

Annie whipped her blonde hair to one shoulder, "I am, see I have a problem, your agents are about to blow my assets cover, but you also have a problem as I currently have a gun pressed against your agents head."

"_Annie" _Joans voice rang over the device causing a look of confusion on Gabriels face and a look of surprise on Annies.

"Uh...Joan, what….what is going on"

"_I will explain everything in detail when you all get back to DC for now, let Riley go."_

As ordered, Annie removed the barrel of her gun from Rileys head and switched on the safety as she stuffed it into the back of her dark jeans.

Gabriele walked forward and helped Riley up onto her feet before silently asking if she was okay. Rather than responding she lurched around the man standing in front of her and grabbed Tvardosky who had used the confusion to make an escape attempt. "Not so fast Ivan."

Gabriele turned to see what was happening and Annie smirked at the surprised look on his face. "Ivan, meet Riley and…." She looked at the man waiting for him to fill in the blank.

"Uh, Gabriel."

The Russian yanked his arm free from Rileys halfhearted grasp and addressed his blonde handler, "Annie, what is this, first you tie me up then you let me go, now your friends hold me here? I tell you all I know."

"Honestly, I am not a hundred percent sure what is going on, but I do know you're gonna need to come with us."

"Where?" Ivan and Riley responded in stereo.

"D.C., Auggie?" She asked pointing her question at the device in her head.

"_I'm here."_ he replied in his cocky tone.

Annie grinned at his familiar voice and stifled a chuckle at Gabrieles furrowed brow, "Book us a flight home please?"


End file.
